Welting.



E. O. HOOD.

WELTING.

F/ELZ- APPLICATION FILED JMLS. I916- Patelited Nov. 14, 1916.

uvvavwa I "EDWARD OAKMAN' noon, 0F WELLESLEY HILLS, MASSACHUSETTS.

Specification bf etters Patent. P t ted N 14, 1-91 Application filedJanuary '3, i916. semi Nd. $9,805.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EDWARD OAKM ANi HOOD, acitizen of the United States, res1ding at IVellesley Hills, in thecounty of Norfolk' and State of Massachusetts, have in-" vented new anduseful Improvements in elting, of which the following is aspecification.

to welting, or a welt strip for use in shoemaking.

The object of the invention is to provide welting having the particularusefulqualities and advantageshereinafter particularly described.

The precise nature of the invention fully appears from the followingdescription of a particular embodiment thereof.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of a welt stripembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal side view of a fragmentof such strip. Fig. 3 is a cross section on line 33 of Fig.1.

The improved welting which. I have produced by the present invention istwo ply consisting of a body ply a and a face ply or veneer Z). Each plyis made as welt strips have heretofore been made, ofnarrow strips orpieces placed end to end to make a continuous strip of indefinitelength, the joints between the successive pieces being beveled orscarfed and cemented. The two plies so made of pieces joined end to endare placed one upon the other and cemented or otherwise securely joinedthroughout theirentire length. In so connecting one-ply to the othercare is taken that the joints 0, 0,. etc.,

between the pieces of one ply' are intermediate the joints (Z, (Z, d,etc, of the other ply.

It will be noted that the joints of the two plies are oppositelyinclined; thatjis, that while the joints 0 between the sections of thelower ply are inclinedupward from right to left, when viewed as shown inthe drawings, the joints cl'in the top ply are downwardly inclined fromright to left when viewed in the same manner. Thereby the piece on theleft'hand'side'of each joint overlaps the piece at the right hand sideof the joint in each ply. This construction and arrangement of thejoints is a feature of much importance in my invention for this reason.

the strips are pulled past knives or other cutting tools in contact witha guard or gage. It is highly important that the joints in the bodyplyshould pass the grooving and beveling knives in such direction that thethin 'edgeof the outer scarf is the last partof the joint to pass theknives, for, if the directionof feeding were the opposite of this, theknives would have The object of the present invention relates a tendencyto dig into thejoint, pull up the overlapping scarf, and either tearopen the jointor out too deeply, gouging or tea-ring out a part of theStrip and weakening it. That'is, referring to Fig. 2, the strip must 'befed past the knives in the direction of tendency to bend back and pullthe overlapping scarf and open the joint to a greater or less extent.\Vith the two ply strip, the

outer ply overlyingthe joints in the body ply prevents such joints frombeing pulled open by' the gage and guard members of machines in whichthe welting is operated upon, while the arrangement of the joints d onthis ply on. the opposite inclination to the joints of the body ply,makes it impossible for such gages or scarfs to pull open these jointseither, but causes them rather to smooth down and compact the joints.

I prefer to make what I call the body ply to furnish the main strengththat is needed by the welting, using the outer or surface -ply to givean attractive finish and appearance, besides performing the officeabove'de scribed in protecting the oints'of the body ply. By thus usingtwo plies am able to reduce the cost of manufacture to less than thatrequired for the single ply welts as heretofore made, besides producingasuperior article. I may use split leather for the body ply, which ismuch less expensive than grain leather of the thickness required forwelting. This statement applies even to splits from the best part of thehide, of

which the leather is better and stronger than in those parts of thehide, namely the shoul- Welt strips are groovedand, beveled before beingincorporated into shoes. In being operated upon to this end .ders, fromwhich welting is usually taken. Thus one useful result of my inventionis to permit the use of better leather than is commonly used for weltingat less cost.

The outer or face ply b is of grain leather which is either so thin oris of such a grade or qualityof leather that it is much less ex penslvethan grain leather having the full thickness of welting. Withoutintending to limit the invention in regard to the material too soft andtoo. stretchy; but when built into a welt strip'as a veneer to the body,it

1 has exactly thequalities required. It is sufficientlysoft to enablethe stitches which attach the outer sole to sink deeply into it, andlater to receive deeply the impressions of the fudge wheel or indentingwheel, which is later used to impress and hide thestitches. Indeed withthe use of this material it is possible to concealsuch stitches. almostcompletely. Sheepskin has a good, grain and I presents a smooth glossyfinished appearance:

, after the stitches of the outer seam have beenconcealed by theindentations of the fudge wheel. It is for the purpose ofthis appearanceprimarily that welting has heretofore always been made of grain leather,and for which I provide a grain leather face ply in my compositewelting. VVelting used with the flesh side outward, or made from splitleather from which the grain has been removed, is rough and furry,particularly after sewing of the outer seam and indenting itwith thefudge wheel, whereby shoes having such welts are not acceptable to, the

trade.

Another advantage of sheepskin for the purpose described is that it isso very flexible and stretchy that it can be sharply bent and greatlystretched, as in passing around the toes of sharply pointed shoes,without breaking or cracking; at the same time it is firm, whereby thewelter, .whlch term designates the workman in shoe factories whoapplies.

welts to shoes, is able to accomplish his work more easily and rapidly.The face ply also strengthens the joints in the body ply and aids themto resist the tendency to open when bent, as at the toe of a shoe. Itwill be. 50.

observed, however, that although sheepskin is a highly desirablematerial. for the face ply of the welt, and is preferred for manypurposes, it is not the only useful or available material.

My invention contemplates welting made from a body ply of split leatherand a face ply of grain leather, of whatever grade or quality or kindthe grain leather may be. Among other sources for the grain leathermaybe named machine bufiing, which is a skiving, about as thick as heavypaper,

' which is removed from the grain side of lea'ther, preparatory to theuse of the leather for various purposes. However I may use tures orconstructions, the plies have been so arranged that the joints betweenthe sections ,of one ply have come intermediate similar joints in theadjacent ply. I there fore do not claim as my invention the funda mentalidea of a two ply welt strip. lVhat I do claim is the particularcharacter of such strip having the purposes and useful qualitieshereinbefore described, and embodying the characteristics pointed out inthe appended claims.

(What I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent therefore is:

1. Atwo ply welt strip consisting of a body ply of split leather inwhich the strength of the welt is mainly contained, and a face ply ofgrain leather united to the body ply on one surface only thereof.

2. A welt strip comprising a body ply and a face ply, the body ply beingof material having great strength but lacking the grain surface ofleather, and the face ply being of grain leather on its outer surfaceand being attached to the body ply on one surface only thereof.

3. A welt strip comprising a body ply and a face ply, the body ply beingof material having great strength but lacking the grain surface ofleather, and the face ply being of grainleather on its outer surface,each of said plies being composed of sections having their adjoiningends scarfed and lapped one over the other, such scarfed joints of thetwo plies being relatively oppositely inclined.

4. A welting comprising a body ply of a relatively strong split leatherlacking grain surface, and a face ply of relatively-soft and ,fiexibleleather having its grain surface, and

EDWARD OAKMAN HOOD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G,

